A two-vehicle crash in Ocean County left two people dead and a child hospitalized late Thursday night, authorities said.
Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer announced that officers from the Toms River Township Police Department responded to the intersection of Hooper Avenue and Fischer Boulevard at approximately 8:45 p.m. on September 11 following reports of a serious collision.
An initial investigation by the Prosecutor’s Major Crime Unit–Vehicular Homicide Squad and township police determined that a 2016 Chevrolet Equinox, driven by a 46-year-old man with a female passenger, was traveling southbound on Hooper Avenue when it crossed over a grass median and collided with a 2025 Toyota RAV4 traveling in the opposite direction.
The Toyota, driven by a 28-year-old woman with her four-year-old child in the back seat, overturned and came to rest on its side in a wooded area east of the roadway. The woman was pronounced dead at the scene. Her son was transported to Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune, where he remains in stable condition.
The driver of the Chevrolet was also transported to Jersey Shore and is listed in stable condition. His passenger was taken to Community Medical Center in Toms River, where she was pronounced dead.
The crash remains under investigation. Billhimer credited the coordinated efforts of the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office, Toms River Township Police Department, and the Ocean County Sheriff’s Office Crime Scene Investigation Unit.